My relationship and history with those stories is now relegated to an intensely private sphere, and Gods forfend I ever use that relationship as justification for defending the man and his works to anyone else.
"Oh, you gotta separate the art and the artist--" Bullshit. No one is obliged to do anything of the sort.
"What a shame you'll miss out on so much great art, then." What a shame you consider his victims to be mere collateral damage in the pursuit of Great Art.